Total pages in book: 145
Estimated words: 141385 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 707(@200wpm)___ 566(@250wpm)___ 471(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 141385 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 707(@200wpm)___ 566(@250wpm)___ 471(@300wpm)
Whatever led our paths to cross that day in the park must be a power far greater than anything I’ve ever encountered before. Until that day, I’d have told you it was an absolute impossibility for such a thing to come to pass.
“I’m going to kill him,” Mum says, finally looking up from between her fingers. “For two years that girl has been back in this city, and he didn’t say a word. He forced her to use another name and hid her away like a dirty little secret!”
“You don’t—”
“I do know.” She slaps her hands against the table and stares at me with her cheeks flushed. “I never liked him when Franny married him, and I still don’t like him now. I only ever tolerated him for her.”
“Why would he do that, though? She’s his daughter, and she was missing for twenty years. Why would he force her to use another name?”
“His wife.” She clenches her fist. “And that adopted daughter of theirs, Jasmine. She’s supposed to be announced as your fiancée at your birthday banquet, although I’ve made no arrangements for such a thing. With Harriet’s return, we would be well within our rights to request that the original terms of our agreement be met.”
“Meaning I’d marry Harriet instead,” I say slowly.
Fuck.
Well.
I can’t say I wouldn’t prefer that. There isn’t a single bone in my body that wants to marry Jasmine. I’ve always seen it as little more than my duty, something that I had to do. The Sinclairs are rich, after all, and their wealth would add a lot to the Royal House.
That’s another reason my mother has always carefully toed the line with them, neither agreeing nor disagreeing with anything.
Money talks, after all.
“Meaning you’d marry Harriet instead,” she echoes, pressing her hand to her mouth. “So, they kept her a secret. He’s certainly weaponising her trust fund. The way she looked at me when I suggested it told me everything.”
“How do you know for sure?”
“Because I’m the one who set up the trust fund.” Her lips twitch. “I helped, at the very least. I’d be a trustee if I weren’t queen—it was deemed inappropriate, so only William was appointed, much to my chagrin. I tried to get a second trustee involved, but Rowan informed me that ‘I don’t like him’ wasn’t an acceptable reason, and I didn’t want to push it when Franny was so unwell. At the time, there was no reason to believe her father wouldn’t give her full access if she were to ever return. That’s how I know that the only condition is that Harriet must be twenty-one to access the money.”
“So, he’s breaking the law by withholding it and making her sign an agreement for access.”
“He certainly is. As Rowan said, the agreement itself may be void.” She sighs, clasping her hands together on the table. “Go and speak to her, Finn. Assure her we’ll do whatever we can for her, including hiring her legal representation to get what’s rightfully hers, if she so wishes. And find out everything you can—I need to know what happened to her.”
“Are you sure she’ll speak to me?”
“She has to speak to someone, and she’s spent the most time with you so far. Now that we know, we can’t simply ignore her presence.” Mum meets my gaze. “You said that you thought she was lying about knowing who you are when you met for the second time. We can deduce that’s probably the truth, but she hardly schemed her way in here. I requested her presence, don’t forget.”
“Maybe she didn’t want to be here and that’s why she lied about recognising me?” I suggest, tapping my fingers against the table. “It’s not unreasonable. If she’s being threatened with money—”
“A lot of money,” Mum says. “Enough to ensure that three generations of her children would never have to worry about finances even with a lavish lifestyle, let’s put it that way.”
“That’s even more of a reason for her to lie to me. She may have only played along today because of who you are.”
“No. She wanted me to know.” She presses her lips together and gets up. The chair squeaks against the hardwood floor, and she walks to the window where she clasps her hands behind her back and gazes outside at the gardens. “I could see it in her eyes. She broke the moment I mentioned Franny. It was like… I don’t know. It was as if she’d been waiting for it, Finn. Hoping for it, almost.”
I sigh and run my fingers through my hair, then sit back in my chair. “What do you want me to do?”
“Find out everything you can, as I said. She’s most likely to talk to you. Find out the truth about how she got here and what she wants.”
“What she wants?”